Fight For Nation, Get Ill

The underlying belief of Republicans is that businessmen can be trusted to do a superior job than any government organization. Of course, the US armed forces during WWII did NOT allow private business to function in war zones. Thus bridges were built in a day, the Alaska Highway completed within a year, and airfields constructed under enemy fire. Former President Bush and his cronies, Rumsfeld and Cheney, were certain “government employees” lacked the skills and competence of private enterprise. The Iraq was the first war contracted out to business.

Many of those who served in Iraq are now suing companies like KBR for allowing poisonous materials to be used and thus endangered their lives. Soldiers sickened at a water treatment facility run by KBR have just discovered that a deadly toxin was used in massive quantities and the result has been serious illness. Eight million pounds of sodium dichromate were used leading to breathing problems and cancer.

KBR denied this usage in 2003, but now acknowledge the truth of what occurred. A military spokesperson described KBR behavior as “deliberate, calculated concealment.” I am certain Ron Paul will soon blame “the government” for this behavior.